


Snowmen, Some Trees, and the Meaning of Love

by awfuldaycupcake



Series: Unrelated Christmas One Shots! [10]
Category: Thomas Sanders, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Anyway have some cute snowmen, I don't know their last names oops, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 21:51:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13257336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awfuldaycupcake/pseuds/awfuldaycupcake
Summary: A sequel to There, Always There!http://archiveofourown.org/works/12950487Virgil's keeping a secret. So, coincidentally, is Thomas. Everything falls loose over a series of snowmen.





	Snowmen, Some Trees, and the Meaning of Love

It became nice, holding hands with Patton on that car ride. Virgil, of course, didn’t mind. And besides. It wasn’t long before holding hands grew into hugging, and hugging grew into cuddling, and cuddling grew into whatever they had now. Again, Virgil didn’t mind. He loved it, in fact. He felt secure, he felt safe. That said, he also felt a little worried.

Then again. He was anxiety. When didn’t he?

The drive to the cabin was a pretty long ride from the airport. Joan had taken to reading out directions from their phone, Talyn still behind the wheel. Patton and Virgil were sitting in the middle and left seats respectively, snuggled into each other. Patton was wearing his Christmas sweater again. Thomas was looking over at them, a small smile on his face. They looked so comfortable. It was… it was sweet.

“You really seem surprised about that, snow, Tom,” Talyn said, eyeing Thomas through the mirror.

“Ppsh- uh, yeah! Snow!” Thomas said. Patton didn’t even blink, but Virgil looked up, a slight worry falling over his features. “Snow. Right. Hey, I’ve never seen it before. I think I’m allowed to get a little excited about snow.”

“Turn left here,” Joan added, and Talyn turned the wheel. Thomas let his eyes meet Virgil’s. Virgil signed, his glare moving back out the window.

Thomas, tired as he was, decided to take a nap over the ride. The red-eye flight had done a doozy on him, and sleep was calling his name. He leaned against the chill of the window, his eyes sliding shut. Virgil, still awake, looked over to Patton.

“Hey, Morality. You still up?” Patton shifted in his arms, looking up to Virgil.

“Aww, hey there, Virge! How’s the ride treating you?” His eyes were barely open. Virgil had definitely woken him up.

“Good, good,” Virgil said. That was not what was on his mind. Not at all.

“I’m glad. You know, you better keep your eyes peeled, I hear there’s some of Santa’s reindeer still roaming free this time of year,” he joked.

“Heh, right,” Virgil said. There was something taking over his mind. Something about the certain blue of Patton’s sweater and how it brought out the gold in his eyes. Something about how, if he looked hard enough, he could almost see freckles on his friend’s cheeks. Something about… Something about his lips.

They arrived at the cabin pretty quickly from there. The snow was even deeper here, being up in the mountains. Thomas stepped out of the car, eyes roaming around the white landscape. “This is gorgeous.”

“Thanks. It’s been in the family for a while now, and no one really uses it much,” Joan said. “So I figured, hey! Florida can get a little too hot, and what better time for travelling than in the nothingness that is the week between Christmas and New Year’s?” Patton emerged from the car, stretching his arms in a yawn. Virgil followed timidly. Something was off with him, but Thomas couldn’t figure out what.

“You’re exactly right,” Talyn said, shutting the driver’s door. They looked up, smiling at the snow in the trees. They looked back to Thomas. “Do you need a hand with your bags?”

“Yeah, actually,” Thomas said. He grabbed the heavier luggage, letting them take the carry-on. Talyn raised their eyebrows at how light it was.

“What’s in here, lint?” They said, unzipping the bag. Inside was his phone, charger, earbuds, and… a coffee mug? They pulled it out, looking at the weird sine and parabolic functions all over it. “Why, exactly, do you have a coffee mug?” They said.

“Loga- uh,” Thomas said. Instantly, Logan rose into reality. His eyes were wide, and he was shaking his head. Right. “I mean, uh, it’s nothing. No reason. I just like that mug. Yep,” Thomas said. Joan even turned around at that one.

“What are you planning?” They said. Logan was still shaking his head, making dramatic signs with his arms. Thomas couldn’t tell the others. As far as Talyn and Joan were concerned, the sides were fictional. They weren’t real, and they sure weren’t walking around them in the snow.

“Nothing. Zip. Zero. How about we go inside? It’s kinda chilly out here,” Thomas said, carrying his suitcase to the door. Behind him, Talyn and Joan shared a look.

The cabin itself was amazing. It was cozy, in a way. Everything still looked new, and the place felt huge, despite being about three rooms. There was the living room, which had a fireplace, two couches, and an old TV. The kitchen was to the right, completely open and without any walls separating it. There was a bathroom behind that, and presumably a bedroom down the hall. The coolest part of the cabin, though, was the stairway that lead straight up from the living room to a half-enclosed bed. Thomas looked up at it, a small smile on his face. He was getting strong Steven-Universe vibes.

“Mi casa es tu casa,” Joan said. They kicked off their shoes. Talyn set the carry-on on the table.

“Thank you again for having me. I’ve never really skied before, but like! Snow!” Thomas said. Patton was walking around the living room, saying something to Virgil about how he hoped the bed was springy. Logan gave the place a once-over, nodding patiently. He looked over to a painting, and as if on command, Roman sank in, commenting on its color scheme. Logan mentioned the art era, and the two of them were off.

“You’re damn right,” Joan said. Thomas shifted his eyes back to the conversation, pretending he couldn’t hear Roman’s voice over Joan’s.

“Speaking of!” Talyn added on. “You two. Me. Snowman. Now.” Thomas looked down at his short-sleeved t-shirt.

“Give me a second to change, but that sounds like a blast!” He said. Joan nodded in agreement. Thomas took his suitcase with him to the bathroom, shutting the door.

The instant he was in another room, his sides went with him. All four of them were crammed in the little room, and none of them looked very happy about it. “Guys!” Thomas scolded under his breath. “You need to be quiet. You can’t let them know.”

“Oh, come on, kiddo. They could always accept you, little quirks and all,” Patton said.

“Quirks and idiosyncrasies are one thing, Patton,” Logan said. “This is a matter of withholding the knowledge that they do not need to know. In order to protect ourselves, of course,” Logan said, offering a side eye to Virgil. Virgil did not meet his gaze.

“Plus, don’t you want them to keep thinking you made us? It really adds to your creative reputation, Thomas, to create such an intricate storyline from anything but experience,” Roman said. “But to simply draw upon events you’ve experienced… Isn’t it a little dull?” Thomas shrugged.

“Fine. If that’s the case, then sink out. I can’t take all four of you at once, especially when I’ve got two real-world people to worry about,” Thomas said.

Outside the bathroom, Joan and Talyn looked over to the door in quiet confusion. “Is he… talking to himself?” Talyn said. Joan listened further, hearing Thomas mutter something to the empty bathroom.

“Seems like it.”

Thomas emerged from the bathroom a couple minutes later in a long sleeve with a coat and dark red ski pants. All of his sides had sunk down except Virgil. Thomas wasn’t sure why, but he knew it wouldn’t be an issue. He could handle one of them at at a time.

“You guys ready?” Thomas said, a smile on his face. Talyn had gone with ski pants as well, but Joan only had a coat and gloves.

“Yep yep! I can’t believe you’ve never seen snow before,” Talyn said. “We are gonna make the best damn first snowman that ever existed.”

They left through the back door, past the small deck. There were trees everywhere, lining the edge of the property. It wasn’t very long before Patton popped up, looking over at the trees in awe. Thomas tried to shoot him a look, but it was Patton. He couldn’t be mean to Patton if he tried.

Virgil said something quietly to him, and it wasn’t too long before they were wandering over to the trees. Thomas decided to stay closer to the house, hoping to be able to focus on his real friends before running back to his imaginary ones. If they were imaginary friends. He honestly had no idea what they were.

“So I’ll do the big one,” Joan said, taking a small ball of snow. “You essentially roll it over and over again until it gets bigger and bigger. Thomas, why don’t you do the smallest, the head, and Talyn, you do the middle. This is gonna be the perfect snowman, I can already see it.” Thomas chuckled, balling up the snow. He was really wishing he’d brought gloves right about now. He did have some that Patton had crocheted, but they were inside in his bag, and he’d have to go all the way over there…

“Thomas, I would advise going to retrieve the gloves. Cold hands will inhibit your progress at this activity, no matter how irrelevant it may be.” Oh great. Logan had sunk in. After Thomas told him not to. Cool. Thomas shot him a poignant look, gesturing with his head towards Talyn and Joan. Joan was still concentrated on their work, but Talyn looked up, making a small face. What was he looking at?

Logan simply shook his head, muttering something about the state of the weather and how Thomas would get himself sick. Thomas kept rolling the snowball, eyes narrowed.

“So. Patton,” Virgil said. The two of them were further from the group, and Virgil had had his limit. He couldn’t not say anything. It was killing him. And Patton was standing there, snow in his light brown hair, tickling the ends of his eyelashes. Virgil was going to go crazy.

“What is it, kiddo? Your hands getting cold? I think I have some gloves somewhere in here,” Patton said. He whipped out a bag from nowhere, ruffling through it.

“If my hands were cold, they’d just hold yours,” Virgil said. He regretted it the instant he said anything. His face ran red, instantly stuffing both of his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. Patton looked up, his face red (from the cold?) “Anyway,” Virgil said. “I guess that’s what I wanted to talk about, but I just blew it, didn’t I?”

“Blew what? Virgil, what is it?” Patton said. He put a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, forcing him to look at him. Virgil’s eyes were still downcast.

“I don’t know. It’s just, I like you, Pat. More than the others.”

“I know! We’re besties!” Patton said with a grin. He followed it up with a stage whisper, saying “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Logan.”

“No, Patton,” Virgil said. Patton paused. Did he really allow himself to think, even for a second, that Virgil was going where he thought he was going with this? “I-”

“That’s payback, asshole!” Virgil was interrupted as he was hit with a flying snowball, once again from behind him. Roman was standing there with a giant shit-eating grin, eyes piercing right through Virgil.

“And I had supposed my own timing was poor,” Logan said, watching this unfold.

Thomas could barely keep his eyes from this whole thing. There was so much going on, and did Logan just make a joke?

“Alrighty, Thomas, if you’re done just stick the head up there!” Thomas turned his attention back to his friends, looking at the huge body the two of them had somehow made in the time he’d been distracted. He looked down at the tiny snowball he had in his hands, shrugging. He put it on top, and it looked awful.

“The! Best! Boy!” Talyn cried, drawing a small smile on the snowman’s face.

“Look at him go. Look at him living his best life,” Joan added, wrapping his own scarf around the snowman’s neck. Thomas’s eyes were still wandering, watching as his four sides began to create a snowman of their own. Roman had began shouting orders, and Patton was rolling the ball across the ground. Virgil was sulking about something, god knows what, and Logan was packing the snow orderly. They were all so different, and yet. He knew, given a little time, they could work together.

“Alright, that’s it. Thomas, we’re going inside, and you’re going to tell us what’s been with you today. You’re not acting like yourself,” Joan said. Talyn stood up, looking over to where Thomas was gazing.

“What’s even over there? A tree? Are you watching the tree?” They said, craning their neck. Nothing. Thomas stood up after the two of them, following as they made their way back to the cabin. The sides popped to his side, welcomed back into the heat of the indoors.

Joan slipped into the kitchen, throwing some water in a pan and putting it on low to boil. Nothing eased a conversation like hot chocolate. “In the meantime,” they proclaimed, “let’s chat.”

Talyn had pulled up a chair next to Joan, and the two of them were facing Thomas like this was some sort of interrogation. Behind them were the four sides-- Roman, Patton, Virgil, Logan, in that order-- sprawled out, each looking to Thomas with different expressions. Roman had his arms crossed, stubborn as ever. Patton was bouncing on his feet, looking from face to face. Of course, Virgil had his hands stuck in his pockets and his head tilted down. Logan adjusted his necktie.

“Do you want to get anything off your chest?” Talyn said. “Like, did a dog die or something?”

“What? Why would you think a dog died?” Joan said, turning to Talyn.

“Well, I don’t know, he’s distracted, and I’d find that pretty distracting,” Talyn said.

“There are plenty of other things to find distracting!”

“No, all the dogs I know are alive and well, thanks,” Thomas said, brushing the two of them off. “The real issue is…”

“Don’t tell them,” Logan said.

“They’ll doubt your creativity,” Roman said.

“Do tell them,” Patton said.

“They’re your friends. You need to stop lying to them,” Virgil said. Thomas mulled it over. They were his friends. They wouldn’t doubt him. But. They could think he was crazy, or that something was wrong with him, or--

“I’ve been seeing things,” Thomas said. The other two across the table paused. Talyn moved in their seat, their eyebrows slowly rising in concern. Joan looked their friend over.

“Oh, Thomas,” Joan said, their face unfolding. “For how long?’

“Well, to be honest, since a couple months before we started making the Sanders Sides videos. So, like, well over a year,” he said.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Talyn said. “You know we’re here for you.” At their words, Logan’s face loosened from its tense position. He looked to Roman, some confusion in his eyes.

“It’s complicated,” Thomas said with a sigh. It really was. “The reason I pitched the whole idea for the Sides, actually, is because-- well. It’s because I’ve been seeing them.” He gestured up, straight at his other sides. His creativity, his morality, his anxiety and his logic were standing side to side. Virgil was shifting uncomfortably, like he’d had something to say. He’d been doing that all day, now that Thomas thought about it. Roman and Logan were sharing weary looks, and Patton was waving to Talyn, hoping they’d notice him. Talyn and Joan turned around, greeted with the back of the living room.

“So he wasn’t looking at the trees,” Talyn said. They turned around, and Joan was soon to follow.

“To you they’re real?” Joan said. They looked up at Thomas, a small smile on their face. “That’s cool.”

“What, you’re not going to judge me? Tell me I belong in an asylum or something?” Thomas said. Oof. That was Virgil. He felt that.

“Of course we aren’t,” Talyn said, taking over for Joan. “You’re one of our best friends. Actually, this is kind of cool. Hey, can you say hi to Patton for me?” They said, turning to face the empty room, a sparkle in their eye.

“Pleasure’s mine, kiddo!” Patton said.

“He says the pleasure’s his,” Thomas translated. Virgil, though, was growing more antsy than ever.

“To be honest, Thomas, I am a little worried, though,” Joan said. “This isn’t normal. Do you… Do you want them to go away?”

Before Thomas could say anything, Virgil stepped forward. “I have to say this. I have to. It’s eating me alive. We’re doing all of these confessions, and I can’t.” Virgil said. He turned to Patton. Patton eyed him nervously. Was he okay? What was wrong? Was someone harming his Virgil? “Patton.” Oh. Now Patton was really nervous. “I don’t know what it is we’re doing, these past couple days, but I’ve really thought like this the past I don’t know how long. You’re. You’re special, Pat. And this whole holding-hands, cuddling, cutesy thing we’re doing? It either needs to be official or it needs to stop.” Patton’s face fell.

“Oh, hon, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you, I--”

“Wait, no, wait. That's not what I meant. Patton,” Virgil said. His hands began twitching. “I. I don’t know, I--” bandaid, he thought to himself, rip it off like a bandaid. “I like you, Patton.” Patton’s face shifted, his eyes widening. “I want to, I don’t know, kiss you and crochet with you and cuddle in front of a fire. I’m not used to feeling like this, but I like it, and if you do too, I want to make this,” he said, gesturing between the two of them, “a reality.”

Patton was buzzing. Finally. Finally. He’d liked Virgil for how long? It felt like months. And Virgil had said something earlier, something about liking him, but he didn't dare take it at more than face value. Yet here he was, being introduced to Joan and Talyn as a real thing, and suddenly Virgil asks. Everything was amazing. This was amazing.

“Virgil,” Patton said. “I-”

“Thomas, if you've got to think about it for this long, it's okay to say you don't want them there,” Joan unknowingly interrupted.

“No, no, I want them there,” Thomas said. “Sure, they can get annoying from time to time. But I’ve seen them every day for the past year and four months. I'm not going to leave them.”

Roman gave a quick “aww,” and Patton turned to Virgil. “And I couldn't leave you, Virgil. I'd… I’d love to go out with you.”

Thomas also gave a quick “aww,” looking between them.

“What?” Talyn said, looking at Thomas curiously.

“Anxiety and Morality are dating!” Virgil flushed red, and Patton giggled.

“Really?” Joan said. “I could've sworn he’d be seeing Princey.” Roman gave a grunt of protest, and Virgil greeted him with a scowl. Things were exactly how they should be.

A beeping noise came from the kitchen, and Joan hopped up excitedly. “The hot chocolate’s ready!” They shouted, dashing to the kitchen. Talyn smiled as they left, looking back to Thomas.

“So. How exactly did Morality ask out Anxiety? Because I've got a few questions.” Thomas smiled. Much like Patton and Virgil… it took them long enough.

 


End file.
